The Days Long Gone
by AngeliqueOleander69
Summary: Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto knew eachother before they met Kakashi and formed Team 7. The days long since forgotten by time and memory. Where does that leave the glade they used to love? To each, their memory is their own. Bad Summary, one shot, year ago.


**A little drabble about Naruto's past or at least what should have been. R&R **

**Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine, and I am sad to report that it never will be T.T**

The Days Long Gone

She stumbled through the woods, she couldn't get caught. She couldn't let _him_ catch her. Her arms pumped at her side and her hair flew in the wind. Adrenaline flowed freely into her little arms and legs, the only thing carrying her onward. That, and will power.

Sakura smirked. She was faster than Naruto, so there was no way he could catch her, but Sasuke? The stupid genius caught her every single time. But Naruto was It and he was currently pursuing her, there was no way she could lose.

Her small ears finely tuned to the noises and sounds around he and Sakura gasped. Her ears told her Naruto had caught up, but was still a meter or so away. She had a few yards until she ran out of forest and would wind up in an empty clearing. Unless she doubled back, she was pretty much trapped… where was Sasuke she wondered.

"Sakura!" Came from the base of a tree just up ahead, half-whispered and half-called. "Over here! I found a hiding spot!" Sasuke urged.

Just in time; Naruto's puffing had grown closer when Sakura hadn't paid close attention. She dove off to the right, where she thought her crush had called from. Leaping head first into the hollow, Sakura dropped onto the raven haired boy.

"Ow!" They both cried in unison, each rubbing their heads.

"I didn't think you'd dive in…. Is he close by?" Sasuke threw over his small shoulder as he looked through the opening, scouring the landscape for the boy who was It.

"I- I think s-so" Sakura panted. She was dizzy from running and also faint from being so close to the boy she liked. "He- He was behind me, but I-I don't think he w-watched where I went." The girl stuttered.

"Good, looks like we lost him… I think you need a second to catch your breath anyway" Sasuke replied, turning from the gap, and sitting down next to his friend. His eyes glazed over and something told Sakura the raven was planning a way to get through the clearing without going around it. She smiled to herself; Sasuke always got too much into the games they'd play, especially tag.

"You're really good at games like t-this, Sasuke-kun. I wish I had an older brother like Itachi…" The girl let the sentence hang as she gazed of in wonderment.

"Me too! Itachi's so cool!"

The thought hadn't registered with either of the little ninjas until it was too late; Naruto had already tackled Sasuke through the crevice and out into the open, sunny knoll. The laughter bubbled up to Sakura and she couldn't help but smile. She crawled through the hole, but not before looking how Naruto had managed to get into the hidey-hole when both she and Sasuke had their eyes trained on the only opening. Naruto had dug a hole. And it wasn't a little one, but a giant one that two kids might be able to fit in. Sakura shook her head, once again astounded by the number one unpredictable kid ever.

She stepped through the crevice and squinted her eyes against the bright, sudden light. The girl glanced around for her friends and found them wrestling in the grass a little to her left. She ran to them

Sasuke had Naruto in a head lock and was rubbing his chin in the flowers and dirt. Sakura ran down to her two best friends and leapt at Sasuke, knocking him off Naruto and rolling to the ground with him. Giggles sounded throughout the tackle and everyone was snickering when they all rolled over to face the azure sky.

"Hey, Sakura that was AWESOME!" Naruto yelled to the pink haired girl. Sasuke and Sakura winced at his volume.

"Yeah, it would have been, if it wasn't only because I tripped." She told her comrades. This brought up another giggling fit, which quickly turned into a ticking fight. When all had quieted, the sun was high in the sky and all of the children were plumb tuckered out. They dropped to the earth and lay with their heads all facing on another, but with their backs on the soil, and their faces upturned toward the sun.

"Hey, how much longer do we have 'til we start at the academy?" Naruto wondered aloud. His eyes were closed and his voice sounded dreamy. Sakura was jealous of how he could sleep anywhere.

"Three days…" Sasuke trailed off. He sounded weary but excited, probably because he would now get to train with his brother.

Sakura chimed in "Aw, dang," She chirped "I don't wanna spend all my time in some stinking school house. I wanna spend it playin' with you guys!" Sakura would be the 1st in her family to enter the academy, and her family was ecstatic to get her away from _That Child_, Naruto. Sakura never understood why her mother always forebode her from playing with the dangerous Uchiha heir, and the blonde.

If she could, Sakura would never leave this place. This place was her nirvana. It was perfect.

The sun shined into her eyes a little too brightly, and the pink-haired-almost-kunoichi closed her eyes and let out a breath.

Sasuke heard both of his friends breathing slow. They had to be asleep. Naruto slept with his mouth open, and drooled a little, while Sakura was the picture of peace and beauty, her head turned slightly towards him and her eyes pressed closed, her face looked like a delicate flower. She lived up to her name. Sakura was going to be a beauty when she got older, that much was obvious to Sasuke.

He slid his small hand into their even smaller ones, and Sasuke closed his eyes slowly. They lay there like that for hours, pressing pause on their life for a few precious moments, and the friends escaped into their bliss for the time being.

Come twilight, the children would wake, and each go their separate ways, turning their backs on one another, and following their own paths. Come night, two of the friends would ponder of each other and their other playmate. But one would forget his comrades and think only of his future and the powers he'd yet to gain, and the jutsus he'd yet to learn.

Come dawn, the three kids would wake up, each with their own dreams still fresh in their minds.

Come tomorrow, the students would become their own people and choose their own path.

But that time had yet to come and each was glad for the respite, where they could catch their breath. Where they could reminisce, where they could imagine, where they could dream, where they could play and joke.

Naruto remembered the glade. He visited often when he thought about it. He would sit in the knoll and remember the games they used to play. The things they used to say. The laughs they shared. The times they had.

Naruto remembered.

Sakura vaguely thought of the dell. She'd been there maybe 3 or 4 times since they started the academy. She never thought about the times they shared, but remembered instead that this hollow was a sacred place to her at one point. It held no memories dear to her.

Sakura wondered

Sasuke couldn't remember the clearing. The hours of laughs and horseplay were lost on the Uchiha. He scarcely remembered anything from before his days at the Academy. He wouldn't remember the blonde knuckle head he'd used to tackle. He wouldn't remember the kunoichi who followed him everywhere he went. He wouldn't remember the glade.

Sasuke forgot.

**So that's it,**

**Kinda sad, considering this started out as a game of tag…**

**Any way review if you like, review if you don't. **

**Thank you!**

**~Angelique 3**


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